Key Women Figures

The other day in class we were talking about what women should aspire to be. We discussed women's roles in the household versus women's roles in the working world. What I have found through my reading of Adrienne Rich is that throughout her life she has not really been able to establish her identity as a woman in this world. This might sound a little bizarre. I am not denying any part of her womanhood, but rather that Adrienne Rich found it difficult to relate to the traditional key figures of women before her. In her poem "The Phenomenology of Anger" mentions Venus, a beautiful Roman goddess, Judith, a strong character of womanhood from the Old Testament, and Kali, a Hindu goddess. For thousands of years, examples like these have been at the forefront for what women aspire to be. Adrienne Rich, being so different from these characters, found it difficult to see her unique womanhood in these characters. This is why she struggled so much through her life and lots of her poems, this one in particular, discuss her strife. It seems that throughout the twentieth century and today more and more key woman figures are in the public eye and are redefining what womanhood can be. Women like Madeline Albright, Oprah, and Ellen Degenerous have all contributed to the evolution of what womanhood can be. I believe that Adrienne Rich has also contributed as one of these key women figures.